This invention relates to hockey sticks and more particularly to an improved hockey stick shaft for replaceable hockey blades and handles.
The expanding popularity of hockey at the amateur and professional levels has been fueled by increasing spectator interest in the sport. As a result, there has been a growing demand for hockey equipment, especially hockey sticks.
Hockey sticks have traditionally been a one-piece wooden structure. During a typical hockey game, a hockey stick can impact the ice hundreds of times at force levels that often result in fracture or breakage of the stick. Breakage of a hockey stick occurs most frequently at the blade portion or at the lower part of the shaft that extends from the blade portion. It is thus fairly common for many hockey players to replace a broken stick at least once during each hockey game.
In an attempt to improve the durability of a hockey stick without sacrificing the characteristics of weight, feel, and flexibility that are desirable in a hockey stick, materials other than wood have been resorted to in constructing hockey sticks. Thus, although a wooden hockey stick has set the standard for weight, feel and propulsion of a puck, a new generation of sticks have been formed of plastic and aluminum, as well as laminates of fibrous, plastic and resinous materials. Generally, plastic and aluminum provide good strength characteristics for a hockey stick, but the weight, wear and feel of these materials do not command universal acceptance by hockey players.
Since most hockey players prefer a wooden hockey blade, much attention has been directed to the development of a durable, non-wooden hockey stick shaft that can be used with a wooden blade but is less likely to break than a wooden shaft. One result of such development effort is a hollow aluminum or fibrous hockey stick shaft capable of receiving a replaceable blade that can be formed of wood or plastic.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,115 to Sweet, et al. shows a hollow hockey stick shaft made from graphite fiber and resin. The hockey stick includes a wooden blade with a tongue that engages one end of the hollow shaft and is bonded therein with a polyester resin mixture. It has been found that hollow shafts formed of graphite fiber and resin as disclosed in this patent, are more durable than wooden shafts but are still prone to fracture under the usual forces that a stick is subject to in a hockey game.
Thus the problem of shaft breakage or fracture in a hockey stick that includes a hollow shaft, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,591,155; 4,600,192; 5,050,878; 4,553,753; 4,361,325; 3,961,790; 4,358,113; 3,934,875 and 4,968,032, has been alleviated but not solved since breakage and fracture are still common occurrences even in aluminum or fibrous material hockey stick shafts.
It is thus desirable to provide a hockey stick shaft that is relatively indestructible during a hockey game, permits replaceable use of blades and an end handle, and retains the flexibility and feel commonly associated with a wooden stick.